


Maika‘i no au

by f0rcryin0utl0ud



Series: Hawaii 5-0 Season 10 Episode Tags, Missing Scenes, Codas [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode Tag, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:16:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23064250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/f0rcryin0utl0ud/pseuds/f0rcryin0utl0ud
Summary: Danny has lost count the number of times he's wanted to call up their former therapist and make an appointment for Steve, but the last time required a mandate from the governor to get Steve to go and he's pretty sure that it would break some kind of bro code to go to their boss to try and convince her to force Steve back into therapy.Not that he isn't stillseriouslytempted.On a daily basis.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Series: Hawaii 5-0 Season 10 Episode Tags, Missing Scenes, Codas [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801882
Comments: 7
Kudos: 103





	Maika‘i no au

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second H50 fic - and only my third story written this year (fifth in the last seven years), so I am still finding my footing as I slowly, oh so slowly, get back into the swing of writing. Unbeta'ed.
> 
> Title: I'm Fine

Junior and Tani are out for the night – something about line dancing, that Danny decided he'd rather not ask about in case it isn't what he thinks it is, but slang for sex because he really doesn't want to be thinking about Junior and Tani and sex in the same sentence. Except that he's tossing and turning on the couch and listening to Steve pacing upstairs again, staring at the numbers on his watch and letting his mind wander just about anywhere other than upstairs because he's about two minutes away from throwing off his blankets and climbing the stairs to force his stubborn ass partner to tell him what the hell has him walking a groove in the floor boards for yet another night in a row.

It started about a couple weeks ago, not long after Junior got home, and Danny was relegated back to the couch. At first it was every other night, but this past week Danny has woken up every night to the sounds of Steve moving around upstairs. The last few nights, Danny hasn't really managed to fall asleep himself, lying there just listening, debating with himself whether he should try and force Steve into talking to him about whatever is going on in that head of his.

He tried talking to him that day, on their way up the trail to catch the McCoys, but like every other time Danny has tried to get Steve to open up about something that clearly has to do with emotions, he shut him down. Danny has a pretty good idea – or several – of what has Steve not sleeping and at the top of the list is his unresolved issues where Doris McGarrett, or more specifically her death, is concerned. Danny has lost count the number of times he's wanted to call up their former therapist and make an appointment for Steve, but the last time required a mandate from the governor to get Steve to go and he's pretty sure that it would break some kind of bro code to go to their boss to try and convince her to force Steve back into therapy.

Not that he isn't still _seriously_ tempted.

On a daily basis.

There's a thump from upstairs and Danny shifts and glances up at the landing, his eyes narrowing to try and see better in the dark. He hasn't spontaneously developed night vision so he sighs and sits up, swinging his legs over the side of the couch and runs a hand over his hair. He's still contemplating throwing caution to the wind and risking pushing Steve into talking when he hears Steve's bare feet on the stairs. He glances over and sees his shadowy form moving down the stairs into the living room, pausing when he gets to the bottom. 

“Hey,” Steve murmurs softly.

“Hey,” Danny answers back, just as soft, as he leans back against the couch.

“Did I wake you?” Steve asks, sounding guilty.

Danny runs a hand over his face and sighs. “No,” he mutters. “Couldn't sleep.” Of course, he couldn't sleep because he's been listening to Steve pacing the floor above him but he doesn't tell Steve that. Steve has taken on enough guilt in his life, he doesn't need to take on Danny's sleepless nights too.

Steve shifts from foot to foot for a moment, looking indecisive and Danny takes pity on him, reaching over and grabbing the remote. He flicks on the animal planet, shifting on the couch in invitation. Steve looks like he's about to decline, maybe tell Danny 'no, no, I've still got some serious pacing upstairs left to do tonight', or some other bullshit line but Danny just slaps a hand on the couch cushion beside him and Steve huffs out a breath that sounds part annoyance, part fond exasperation. He flops down beside Danny, and Danny throws half his blanket over Steve's lap, shifting to get more comfortable, pressing along Steve's side, shoulder to thigh, as on the TV some scientist or other tells them all about sharks. Apparently it's Shark Week...again. Fabulous.

He can see Steve smirk beside him. “Are you going to try and keep Grace and Charlie out of the ocean again, after this?” he asks.

Danny gestures at the TV where an aerial shot of the coast of some beach somewhere shows a frightening number of shadowy ominous figures swimming in the ocean far too close to shore. “If they didn't want people freaked out by sharks, why the hell would they keep having something called Shark Week practically every month?” he grouses.

“It's not every month,” Steve says far too reasonably and far too amused for Danny's tastes, “and they have it to educate people on sharks so they _aren't_ freaked out by them, Danno.”

Danny huffs beside him but doesn't argue. He'll still try and keep Grace and Charlie out of the ocean for at least a couple of weeks...just to be safe.

Steve chuckles beside him and Danny glances over, narrowing his eyes. “Shut up,” he grumbles, elbowing Steve in his side before settling more comfortably against him.

“Whatever you say, Danno,” Steve murmurs, fond amusement lacing his tone again.

“How's the head?” Danny asks, gaze on the TV.

Steve shrugs. “Fine.” Danny blows a frustrated breath out his nose, lips pressed together in a firm line. “What?” Steve asks, defensive. “I'm fine.”

“No, you know what?” Danny says, slicing the air with his hand like he's trying to chop through Steve's stubbornness. “We're not doing this again.”

“What, again?” Steve asks, trying for confused puppy but failing because Danny is narrowing his eyes dangerously and Danny knows damn well that Steve knows what he's talking about.

“I'm tired of you pretending you're fine when you're not – and I'm tired of pretending I believe you,” Danny says, voice low, serious.

“Danny,” Steve starts, frustration evident even in that one word but Danny just holds up his hand, stopping Steve's denial from getting any farther.

“You're not fine, you haven't been for a while. I thought you just needed time; that you'd talk when you were ready, that if you didn't want to talk to me, maybe you'd talk to Junior, or Lou, or if it was really bad that you'd find a professional.” He can feel Steve tensing beside him, but he keeps going, because this has been a long time coming and his worry for Steve since Doris was killed has only grown, and he can't keep it bottled up anymore – not when he doesn't see Steve getting any better, but worse. “You haven't done any of that though, and now you aren't sleeping Steve, and I'm worried. I'm worried because I don't know what you're going to do anymore.”

Steve snorts beside him. “When have you ever known what I was going to do? Isn't that what you're always bitching at me about at work?”

“No, actually, it isn't. I know exactly what you're going to do at work – usually it's something insane and dangerous and gets me shot at on a regular basis, but saves the day and everyone we care about gets out relatively unscathed. Now...” Danny takes a shuddering breath and raises his hand, letting his fingers slide into Steve's hair at the back of his head where he can feel the lump from where Steve cracked it against the rock that afternoon. Steve shivers at the contact. 

He can still see McCoy with that god damn log above his head ready to smash it over Steve's, when he closes his eyes. “Your insane plans are still dangerous, still are just as likely to get me shot at, but more and more often they're coming with a higher risk of you not coming out of them alive, let alone unscathed,” Danny says quietly, his fingers still carefully caressing the back of Steve's head.

“Danny,” Steve murmurs, leaning into Danny's touch and Danny swallows hard because there are so many things they need to talk about. The way Steve is looking at him though, like Danny could hang the moon if he tried, has his heart beating wildly in his chest like he's run another one of those ridiculous tough mudder challenges.

He's not sure which one of them leans in first, but the press of Steve's lips against his is soft, almost chaste but no less heady in its long time coming. He pulls back just far enough to meet Steve's eyes, and what he sees – what he suspects is mirrored in his own eyes – takes his breath away. Jesus, how had he not known this?

Steve closes his eyes and leans his forehead against Danny's, one of his hands curling around Danny's side, fingers clutching at Danny's shirt. “I'm tired, Danno,” he whispers.

Danny's fingers slide from Steve's hair to the back of his neck and he swallows hard at the sorrow in Steve's voice, at the defeat, the exhaustion. He pulls Steve's head onto his shoulder and wraps his arms around him, pulls the blanket around them both more snuggly. “I know, babe,” he whispers back. “It's going to be okay. We'll get through this together. Whatever it takes.”

Steve clutches Danny's shirt tighter, as Danny rubs a hand up and down his back, feeling the tension slowly drain out of him, even as he can feel a wetness growing against his shoulder. Steve is silent as he lets the tears fall for Doris that he's been trying to hold back for so long, letting Danny offer him the comfort he has refused, but has needed ever since he took her body home.

He's quiet so long, Danny thinks he might have fallen asleep but suddenly Steve's voice hesitantly breaks the silence around them, “Danno?”

“Yeah, babe?” he murmurs.

“What if I've been thinking it's time to retire?” Steve asks, voice so quiet Danny has to strain to hear him against the sound of the TV, but at the question, his heart almost stops. Sure not that long ago he'd been thinking about retirement himself, and Steve had been the one that had convinced him he'd rather take a bullet than spend his retirement trying to balance books for a restaurant that might barely break even, or worse put them in debt. The truth was, he simply couldn't imagine not spending his retirement without Steve and when Steve wanted out, it just made sense for Danny to say he wanted out too. The idea that now Steve might be the one ready to retire...

Danny takes a shaky breath, letting his fingers slide back into Steve's hair. Turning his head slightly, he presses a kiss to Steve's forehead. “Well,” he murmurs, “I suppose we'll just have to figure out what we're going to do now that we know running a restaurant is out.”

Steve shifts to lift his head off Danny's shoulder, but doesn't move much farther away, his brow furrowed. “Danno, you don't have-”

Danny scoffs. “What, you think I want to break in a new partner? And hello – I seem to recall that retirement was my idea first. You can't go stealing a guy's idea and then tell him he has to keep working, that's just bad form Steven.”

Steve's mouth quirks in a half grin. “I'm pretty sure you can't claim a monopoly on retirement, Danno.”

Danny raises an eyebrow. “Watch me.”

Steve snorts and shakes his head before turning serious again. “Danny,” he starts but Danny just shakes his head.

“No, babe,” he interrupts. “If you're serious about retiring, then we'll figure it out...together. The team is in good hands, you know that.”

“You really mean that?” Steve asks, looking stunned.

Danny just grins, cupping Steve's face before leaning in to press their mouths together again. “You're not getting rid of me that easily, babe.”

He can feel Steve smile against his mouth, into the kiss and lets himself get lost in it for several minutes before Steve finally pulls back, looking lighter than he has in months. “I seem to recall I was the one that told you we were going to get along great all those years ago,” Steve says, a teasing note in his voice, “and you were the one trying to get rid of me.”

“In my defence, you were an insane person – still are by the way – who had decided to take over my case, and my life and have been doing that ever since. Wait, why am I sticking around again?”

Steve smirks. “You love me.”

Danny's expression softens, his heart fluttering in his chest because damn, “Yeah, I guess I kind of do.”

Steve's smirk turns goofy and he moves closer, murmuring, “I love you too, Danno.”

There are still things they need to talk about, still things they'll need to discuss with the team, but for now Danny lets Steve press him back against the couch, wrapping his arms around the best friend, the best partner, he's ever had as they take the first steps in the next phase of their relationship. A step that has felt inevitable, even as it feels shockingly new and unexpected at the same time after ten long years. 

Danny grins against Steve's mouth. He can't wait to see where they go from here.

**Author's Note:**

> I would love to actually see Steve and Danny retire together at the end of the series - and get a happily ever after together, even if it might not actually be a "McDanno" one. I'm stressing over the thought of them killing Steve off, so this was a pre-fixit for me.


End file.
